Arsenal 'Gutted and distraught' over Bayern Munich Loss

Declan Rice says Arsenal are gutted and distraught after losing their Champions League quarter-final tie against Bayern Munich.

As it turns out, those Bayern Munich demons couldn't be vanquished as Arsenal's long-time nemesis in the Champions League were again the ones to end the Gunners campaign.

Bayern's 1-0 win, thanks to Joshua Kimmich's second-half header, was enough to decide the tie (3-2 on aggregate) as Arsenal's Champions League dream ended in sour fashion.

Having had chances in both legs that normally would be taken, Arsenal simply didn't do enough in the second half to overcome a Bayern side who had nothing to lose.

For midfielder Declan Rice, the squad is gutted to be dumped out of Europe's premier club competition.

“We're gutted, we are distraught really,” Rice said via arsenal.com. “It's just difficult to put into words. Over the course of the two legs, we had a great chance to go 2-0 up in the first game, and then we then had an uphill task because we went behind 2-1, but we managed to bring it back to 2-2. We came here after Sunday, and we were feeling refreshed and ready."

Arsenal will now return to north London and has to pick themselves up to face Wolves at Molineux Stadium at the weekend as the Premier League title race now takes center stage.

In what is an odd circumstance, league leaders Manchester City were also dumped out of the competition, while Liverpool face a 3-0 deficit against Atalanta ahead of their second leg of the Europa League quarter-final tie at Gewiss Stadium. So, all three English sides could be out of Europe and have their focus fully on the league title.

But in Arsenal's case, in a two-leg tie that was ultimately decided by the moments that didn't happen, it will be a case of "what if" over the coming days.

Rice stated that the team was gutted and distraught over the loss, and given that they were dumped out by a solitary goal against a team that was considered there for the taking, it is easy to see why.